Trackday Rubber - 944 Turbo

[Penguinracer]

I've also posted this in the Trackdays thread.
I'm looking for recommendations as to high-grip trackday rubber for the '90 944 turbo. By the time the rubber goes on the suspension will have been rebuilt with three-way Ledas, Tarett bars front & rear, spherical solid bushing, Racers Edge Camber plates, Charley arms etc.
I'm keeping the standard D90 wheels for the stealth look so tyres must be 225/50/16 front & 245/45/16 rear.
The Michie PS Cups look good & are available in this size but what about the new P Zero (replacement for the P Zero Rosso)?

[steil]

I'd get a pair of 8" wide fronts then you can run the same size (i.e. 245's) all round - Michelin Pilot Cup's is what you probably want.

[NJH]

I have Hankook RS-2 tyres in that size. I just bought a set of 17" boxster twist alloys for specifically the reason that I don't want to buy tyres in that size again. The rears 245x45-16 are becoming an unusual size to spec and as a result each rear tyre cost me 150 quid. When I get tyres for the 17" I will be looking for 224x45 on the front and 245x40 etc. on the back which are pretty common sizes. I may also be looking for Avon slicks since it seems to me that if one is going to have a seperate set of tyres/wheels for the track then may as well go the whole way and get slicks.

[Big 968 Dave]

Like NJH said.
If your budget will stretch to a set of 17" wheels, Youl find the tyres easier to source...+ will poss in the long run save you money..
The 245,/16"s are difficult to get..

Personally i use some Dunlop D01J / Formula R,s 235 + 265/17",on 8" fronts + 9" rears...
But these have been superceeded by the newer DZ02G,, which are in the process of being yet again "refreshed" to the DZ03,s....The DZ03,s are supposed to be a better tyre...As the DZ02,s didnt wear very well...

The Mich pilot CUP tyres a good BUT pricy...
Dont know anything about the Pirrelli P zero Corsa,s, but the 996GT3 boys seem to love em...

PS make sure when you do finally get sorted ,, that you WARM them up b4 pushing hard, otherwise you WILL end up in the barriers or gravel trap....

Hope you get sorted out...

[anonymous-user]

toyo 888's on my rs - excellent - and cheap as chips

[Penguinracer]

It seems that I'll need to change wheels. If so I'd like to stay with a second-hand set of original Porsche wheels.
Which 17" & 18" wheels will fit a '90 car?I think the offset on the D90s is 65mm front & 60mm rear.
Would 18" or 17" be better for tyre choice etc. What is the max width that'll fit without rubbing?
There are so many designs of Porsche wheel but I suppose only a few have a suitable offset. I've always liked the Cup 2 but would an 18" be better, allowing a lower profile tyre?

[diver944]

Penguinracer said:

I've always liked the Cup 2 but would an 18" be better, allowing a lower profile tyre?

For track use an 18" is fine but obviously ride will suffer on the road. Under standard arches you can fit 255 up front and 295 at the rear with a bit of camber, I have Kumho V70A 245 up front and 275 at the rear on 17" Boxster wheels. All later offset Porsche wheels for a standard bodied car will fit as the offsets are similar, the only difficulties will be wheels from widebodied Turbo 911s as they will stick out too much

[Penguinracer]

Thanks for the advice Paul. I'm sorry to hear about LIL (I saw your post on RL) - but the important thing is that you're okay. What are your plans - repair or reshell?

[Buttmonkey]

fbrs said:

toyo 888's on my rs - excellent - and cheap as chips

Another for the R888's. Excellent and relatively cheap

[nick_968]

I have a set of racers adge camber plates for sale if you havent already bought them.

[diver944]

Penguinracer said:

What are your plans - repair or reshell?

It's looking like a reshell into a full on track car with cage and maybe lighweight panels at the moment. The original chassis is straight and repairable but the extra cost and time required to do this is holding me back. I've only really been using LIL as a track car so I might as well go the whole hog and put that engine into a dedicated car.

Ironically there should be a big article on the car and engine in 911 & Porsche World this month (shame I had to crumple it a bit just before it gets a bit of spotlight )

[andy97]

Read the article and was looking down the back of the Sofa to find the cash for a similar engine build but wasn't in luck!
Sorry to hear about the car - haven't seen the other thread referred to above, what happened?

If you are going to rebuild into a race car shell, will you actually race it? The engine spec would seem ideal for something like BRITCAR?

[diver944]

andy97 said:

Sorry to hear about the car - haven't seen the other thread referred to above, what happened?

I had a complete brake failure at Snetterton and broadsided the barriers, crumpling the door and front and rear wings on the passenger side. The good news is that seeing the very positive article about my car in 911 & P World today has reignited my enthusiasm and I've just given the go-ahead to fix the car A dedicated track/racecar isn't really for me at the moment, but I would like to head down that way in the next few years.

I'll be needing new trackday rubber myself as the front passenger tyre is badly scored from the crumpled wing

[Penguinracer]

Nick - I'll just wait on the Camber Plates at the mo if that's okay. Thanks for the offer - in a couple of months I might open the "suspension" can of worms! I'm also waiting to hear from Leda as I was given gift vouchers before they went into liquidation. The new owners of Leda (EPM) have very generously offered to honour the vouchers although they have no legal obligation to do so. When that is settled I'll start acquiring the other bits & pieces. The builders have just gutted every room in my house so all my funds are tied-up in the building effort. Paul - have you considered going with a 968 shell - might be the best of both worlds!

[NJH]

diver944 said:

Penguinracer said:

I've always liked the Cup 2 but would an 18" be better, allowing a lower profile tyre?

For track use an 18" is fine but obviously ride will suffer on the road. Under standard arches you can fit 255 up front and 295 at the rear with a bit of camber, I have Kumho V70A 245 up front and 275 at the rear on 17" Boxster wheels. All later offset Porsche wheels for a standard bodied car will fit as the offsets are similar, the only difficulties will be wheels from widebodied Turbo 911s as they will stick out too much

You went the opposite way to a guy I was talking to a couple of months back. He went from Kuhmo to Dunlop track day tyres because everyone raves about how good the Dunlops are then found that his laptimes are lower etc. etc.

I would add that it is worthwhile checking on the effect the offsets will have on the balance of the front to rear track widths i.e. a wheel setup that widens the rear track width whilst keeping the front the same may tend to steer round corners whilst on the throttle and visa versa.

Paul, how did you find the change down from slicks to R compound tyres?

[diver944]

Penguinracer said:

Paul - have you considered going with a 968 shell - might be the best of both worlds!

Yes, I had considered it and I saw a 968 shell recently for £900 which would be extremely tempting to make a 968 RS Turbo replica However, now that I have seen my own car get a good writeup in 911&Porsche World I am fired up to restore it back to its former glory. Today I've been given a pretty solid timescale of three weeks and the OPC can get the body panels here from Germany by the end of the week, today so hopefully it will be back before August

[diver944]

NJH said:

diver944 said:

Penguinracer said:

Paul, how did you find the change down from slicks to R compound tyres?

It's a bit early to say as I only did a warm up session to adjust tyre pressures from road to track, then a proper 20 minute session before stuffing it into the barriers.

Early signs are that I had the same if not more grip on the soft compound Kumho V70A tyres than I had on the very old hard compound Pirelli slicks. The sizes may well have helped this also. Remembering that I had moved up from 16" to 17" rims with 245 at the front instead of 225, and 275 at the rear instead of 245

I'll report back when LIL returns in a less 'narrow bodied' state